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Ireland To Asia: A Year On My Bike

On 31st August, Sean Hoban left his home town of Waterford, Ireland on an epic year long journey that would see him cycle through Europe to Asia.

So far, Sean has left Ireland, taking the ferry to France and reaching Strasbourg and crossing the German boarder on 18th September. Through Germany Sean headed to Munich, crossing into Austria and into Salzburg. Sean is now in Vienna after having cycled over 2,000km and continues to meet amazing people along the way, all having their own adventures.

Currently on leg 2/4 of his proposed route, Sean will contiue East through Hungary, Serbia, Bulgaria and Turkey.

Leg 3/4 head out of Turkey, through Georgia and Azerbaijan.

The final leg will then take Sean through Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and eventually ending up in Kyrgyzstan.

With a trip like this, there are many obstacles to overcome such as what to pack, how to save weight, how to budget etc. There are also visa costs to think about, so when Sean applied for help from the Alpkit Foundation, we were thrilled to be able to help him in any way we could. Since then, we've been following Sean's journey and the experiences he's been having... Here's a few updates on the adventure so far.

3rd September, Northern France - "About 20km in I met this really cool guy named Antoine. He noticed the signs on my bike. He asked could he cycle with me for the day. In total I did about 80 km today and Antoine cycled about 55 km with me."

6th September, Paris - "I made it to Paris!... Remember Antoine from my first day of cycling, well it so happens that his parents live in Paris and they were happy to welcome me into their home"

7th October, Vienna - "I made it to Vienna, the capital of Austria on the 3rd of October... after Linz I continued down River along the Danube. I spent two nights in my tent alongside the river. It really was beautiful, I cycled through flatlands, valleys, vinyards and orchards."